


Blood Sacrifice: The Genesis of the Vampire Akasha

by Morpheme Addict (AkashasMistake)



Category: Queen of the Damned (2002)
Genre: Coming-of-age, F/M, Mayan Mythology - Freeform, Origins, Puberty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-27
Updated: 2012-04-27
Packaged: 2017-11-04 10:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/392577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkashasMistake/pseuds/Morpheme%20Addict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is tough growing up... it is even tougher when your father signs off permission to have you sacrificed to the gods. How will Akasha - only just discovering her womanhood - transform from the picture of purity in youth to the ruthless, bloodsucking Queen of all who are Damned we know her as today? This is a coming-of-age story... with a bit of a bite!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Sacrifice: The Genesis of the Vampire Akasha

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Oscar Miaga for taking the time and patience to revise this piece in its earliest stages, and to DJ Bones for seeing through its completion. Many nights of researching and several dozen cups of coffee later, your help became quintessential to the production of this piece. My warmest thanks to Ms. Anne Rice as well, the originator of the novel Queen of the Damned from which this fanfiction grew; thank you for inspiring me with your work for many, many years. 
> 
> Lastly, I would like to thank my professor, Stormish, whose creative and innovative class this fanfiction was crafted for - this semester will be a tough one to leave behind because of you. 
> 
> To my dear readers, I hope you enjoy my take on a traditional vampire origin story. Please note that all characters featured (of my own invention, or lovingly borrowed) are entirely fictionally-based, and their actions/opinions/etc do not necessarily reflect my own.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Morpheme Addict

**Epilogue:**  
I had never been so acutely aware of every function of my body until that moment. The sweat, beading and sliding down the slope of my forehead, passing over the tender flesh of my nose and settling in a pool in the curve of my crooked lips, as if every pore and divot were struggling to break free and run. I felt my heart palpitations, steady and slow; my lungs filling and falling with the heavy incensed air in time with the ritual drums. _Boom, boom, boom._ Every moment screamed for breath, and I felt my legs and arms tense against the grip of the priests, straining them taut against the slab of smoothed marble. Eyes squeezed shut, I fiercely fought my impulse to cry, knowing I would shame my father if I should show my fear. The knife rose, and I understood the seconds passing slower than I remembered. All at once I felt sticky sweat mix with my own urine and blood, hovering for just a moment between worlds until at last the velvety blackness consumed me. But perhaps it is best to start with my existence before I died – for the first time, anyways.

  
 **I : The Summoning**  
My youth is a blur – thousands of years have passed now, but even time cannot erase everything. The Sun; the Sun, I do remember. I remember the way it sent slave backs gleaming and my father, Enkil, dancing. I remember the way it kissed my skin, passing over my thin arms and shying away from the dip between my shoulders. I remember hating it, when I wanted nothing more than to see Peku. The moon goddess Ix Chel stood watchful, waiting – I knew she would whisper my secret to my father should she see. Once the shields of shadow fell, I would climb from under my furs and creep softly to his waiting arms, relishing in the possibility of discovery with each carefully placed step. Before the first hummingbird poked his swiveling head out from the gum tree each morning, I'd scurry home, a sly smile inevitably twisting my lips. I held that secret under my tongue like a piece of sweet yam, dying to share it with the wind and the world.  
And then the rash came, like a thickness over our women. Every nursing hut filled, the heaving sobs audible through the sheathed walls of clay. Many moons passed, and still no woman could conceive. A great meeting was called of all the leaders to discuss the fate of our people. A summoning of this size I had only heard of from Yum Caax, the village elder. He was much too old to speak publicly now. His back curved like the waning moon and his eyes shone a paled aqua, yet words as lively as his escaped youth danced on his tongue like fire ants. I often found myself wandering into his hut whenever I needed an escape, or felt like setting my heart afloat on a river of honey. I was very young when the locusts came and ate all the sugar cane, and the meeting was required then, too. My curiosity overwhelmed me, and when Enkil kissed my forehead and set out, I waited but a few pauses before setting out on a soft stride behind him.

...

“Akasha” - one of the elders, Bacab, cried - “She is our last hope. In blood we are born, in blood we live, and in her virginal blood will we bathe our offspring. It is an honor, Enkil.”  
“Bacab”, and I detected a tinge of pain in his reply, “I cannot possibly bear it; she is my only child. Her mother is with the gods now, have I not sacrificed enough?”  
“The nerve; the blaphemy!” Bacab spit, pointing furiously as her head swiveled to meet the expectant gaze of the counsel tribesmen, “Is she not the reason that Ayah, your wife, has passed to live with our great and mighty gods? Her flesh is vile; her blood must be spilt to settle the score.”  
Soft murmurings rose from the surrounding tribesmen, and although I could not see my father through the thatches of the hut, I could feel the heat on his cheeks as if it were my own. The air seemed to vibrate around me as I waited with a constricted throat.  
“And if I cannot – will not?”, Enkil challenged, “How can you all ask such a thing of me? You each have sons, daughters – even you, Bacab, have been blessed with two healthy sons! How simple for you, to cast my daughter to the pits, but preserve your own kin.”  
At once, Bacab straightened and with slitted eyes said, “My sons are none of your concern – they will be hunters and fathers; useful to this tribe. Your daughter has caused nothing but pain to us; her stain has brought the demon Amel to us, and Ix Chel's rage against our women is clear of this. She must be extinguished like the flame of the ritual fire, lest Ix Chel's rage let Amel burn and consume the rest of us with her!”  
More murmurings floated up from the crowd, and several elders nodded their heads in agreement.  
After a few moments, Enkil hung his head in defeat. “If there is no other way... So it shall be done.”

  
 **II : The Tainted Sacrifice**  
In a sudden flood, my cheeks wetted with hot tears and I sprinted back to our hut. How could he betray me so quickly – give me up so easily? Did I mean nothing to my father?  
I did not wait for him there, but gathered my things and fled to my sweet Peku. Glancing at the Sun standing proud just above my head, I knew his mother would be tending the maize right about now, signaling at least a few precious moments of solitude in his arms before I would have to plod back across the river to Enkil. I must have startled him awake, because his lithe body shot up from his mat, nostrils flared. When he recognized me peeking from behind the entry way fur, his features softened, a small smile etching a string of tiny ivory tusks across his face. _If I am going to die,_ I thought to myself, _I must do now all that I ever wanted to do._ My eyes traced the contours of his skin... I always admired Peku for exactly those qualities that the elders scoffed at as ill-fitting a man of our tribe: his delicate fingers, long and slender, and tipped with cream-colored nails... his shock of tangled raven hair that he was continually blowing with an irritated expression from his puckered brow. On flat foot, he stood only as high as a Kapok tree sapling, and I could wrap my arms around his neck with ease if I balanced carefully on the balls of my feet.  
Slowly, I brought my left hand to my shoulder, slipping a finger underneath the strap and letting it fall. Peku for just a moment cocked his head in curiosity... _this must seem strange to him,_ I thought, _he doesn't know. I can't let him know._ He parted his lips and inhaled slightly as if preparing to ask, but something in my face must have betrayed me as our eyes locked, and he silently set about removing his own tunic instead. As he approached me, I set my eyes towards the hearth, suddenly redden by my boldness. He embraced me, the marble smoothness of his skin belying its warmth, and I found myself succumbing to his touch with greater fluidity than I had imagined in my dreams many times before. Fumbling at my waist, Peku unknotted the cloth, reaching one hand up to smooth my hair back as he pushed inside of me. Digging my fingers into his hip, a small wince escaped my lips, the blood running warm down my thigh. “Are you okay?” He stopped, his jaw set sternly. “I will be”, I breathed airily, my head lulling backwards in languid pleasure. The muscles of his arms tensed as he thrust deeper inside of me, until at last Peku fell onto my breast, collapsing in quivering ecstasy.

  
...

 

We lay there, sucking in the sweat-sweetened air on the thatched mat, a thick silence looming between us until I at last rose and began dressing in my robe. I knew I should say something... anything... he deserved to know. But I couldn't summon the words without them dragging tears behind them, and so I waited until he turned to dress himself before slipping out of his hut and walking towards home. That was the last time I saw Peku with human eyes.  
I returned home to find Enkil sitting cross-legged next to the hearth, roasting a yam between two spindles and coaxing the tongues of fire with a short chaya twig. As soon as I entered, he jumped up and ran to embrace me, crying, “Akasha! My dear sweet daughter. Come sit with me, I wish to speak with you.” His tanned expression set lines cutting across his brow, drawing up the corners of his mouth eagerly. _He is trying, trying to be happy... “I love you Father, and I understand this”_ , I wanted to say, but decided instead to smooth the back of my robe and squat, tucking my feet beneath me for warmth.  
“So... how did my beautiful daughter spend her day?” Enkil said, gently nudging a pot of sweet jippi jappa milk across the dirt.  
His words steeped with apology, and I found myself shifting my weight from one ankle to the next to find something else to focus on besides his expectant eyes.  
“Umm, well... I went to the river today, and Chaob was there so we caught snakes for a while until her mother called her in for ritual. I put a new bead in my hair, see? Auntie Colel gave it to me.” I flashed the glittering bauble against the fire light.  
“So I see, how sweet of her! She spoils you, really.” His lips curled into a toying grin.  
“That... that isn't the only thing I did today,” I stammered. “I... I followed you... I know.”  
“Oh?... Oh.” He understood. “Akasha, my spider monkey... I don't know what to say.”  
I raised a hand. “Don't, Father... it is done. At least let me know when it is you intend to do it.”  
He looked weary, and after searching my face for the right words at last replied softly,“At sunrise, my heart.”  
I rose from my perch and padded to my mat. Crushed, Enkil released a sign, and turning to the fire, poured the remaining jippi jappa on the hearth. The embers hissed in protest as they died.

 **  
III : The Offering**  
I rose before the dawn, and bathed myself in the river. As I scrubbed my skin to a ruddy red with the pumice stone, my back burned as though the whole village was watching me; as if everyone knew. I ducked underneath, drawing a deep breath into my lungs before ascending down, down, down... maybe, if I could swim far enough, I could just disappear; become the mysterious river woman, lost to the bowels of the current. Suddenly, I jolted, sensing a sharp pinprick on my calf. I swam furiously to the surface, breaking through and heaving my soaking body ashore. Tenderly, I examined the damaged – just a small pinch, two small indents - likely a ringed river snake. I wrung my hair and wrapped myself in my robe, allowing the Sun to cascade over my shoulders as I walked home. Enkil was still slumbering, and I made sure not to disturb him as I combed the length of my hair and kneeled to murmur my morning prayers. I briefly thought of visiting Peku, but decided against it – I wanted him to remember me as I was, passionate and content.  
By now most of the village had risen with the first of the quetzal's song, and I listened from my hut for the sounds of ritual preparation. In my early youth, days such as these were exhilarating; the tribeswomen would roast the fattest yams for banquet, quartering and seasoning them by the spit with spicy chili peppers... carefree laughter rung through the streets and on very special occasions, Yum Caax would bring his ocarina from beneath his mat and hum an ancient melody only he had mastered over time, to the delighted squeals of the wide-eyed children.  
But today was not such a day; today, I would die, and I knew that it would not be a swift or painless death.  
I sat, watching my own funeral progression, until Bacab spotted me resting under a pom tree and motioned me with a raised arm to come closer. “Pluck a few branches before you come, will you?”, she called. Reluctantly, I set my palms on my knees and pushed myself from the ground, grasping a fistful of the slender jade leaves as I made my way across the plateau.  
“My dear girl”, Bacab crooned, “You must be excited. Today, you shall honor your people, and redeem us from this horrible curse of Amel. Your sacrifice would make Ayah proud, may the gods protect her.”  
I swallowed the urge to spit, settling to bite my tongue instead.

 

...  
  
At the highest Sun, I was lead to the altar in front of my people. Four medicine men blessed my hands and feet with copal oil, and my garments were stripped and cast aside. I shook my head, my eyes searching for Enkil... naked I lay there, my thighs baking with the heat of the marble slab. Where was my father? I couldn't concentrate on the words of the medicine man; my eyes welled and my hearing waned. All through the night, I had whispered small encouragements to my cowardly heart, and under the peace of the goddess sky I had committed to my fate. Now, bare-breasted and frightened, I could not help but scream for mother. _As she no doubt screamed for you, when you took her life in the womb. This is merely retribution, Akasha._ Bacab slapped a flustered hand over my mouth, leaning to spit, “Seize your tongue, you ungrateful girl.” Suddenly, the dagger was upon me, and as its sharpened tooth pierced my chest, I slipped into a deep, swarthy slumber.

  
 **IV: The Awakening**  
I stood upright, my hair tendriling down my back, the tips curving just above my bare buttocks. Feeling my cheeks smeared with ceremonial ink and oils, I brushed my knuckles over the stains. Glancing downward, I saw I was covered in blood, and a deep gash lacerated the right of my chest, the skin curling to flutter wide like moth wings. Yet strangely, I felt no pain – had I reached Xibalba?  
 _“Akasha”_. I perked, listening for who beckoned; _“Akasha, come to me”_. I turned on my heel.  
“Akasha!”, Ix Chel shouted from beyond my vision, and I found myself stammering, lips agape in awe; “Your people have shamed me, with the impure offering of your flesh. Your relations have sullied your blood. Your punishment must be befitting of the shame you have inflicted – I condemn you, and all like you, to walk the World from this moon forward as a scorn of the land. Amel shall be your god and your keeper, and his desire for the flesh shall he manifest in you. Drink of this sickness you have split, and be gone from my sight forever!”

  
...

  
 _Akasha... Akasha... oh please, please wake up... Akasha please..._  
Is this what the afterlife is like – constant interruption? If I had to die, I'd much rather do so in peace... I slowly peeked through my lashes, to find the furrowed expression of Peku, hunched over my body, his hands wrapped in mine pleadingly.  
“Wha... whe... what happened? Where am I? How are you here – did you die, too?”  
Peku's eyes illuminated, and he gasped, embracing me tightly before remembering and withdrawing, apologetically tracing my wounds carefully with his finger tips. “I saw them remove your heart... the gods, they must have willed it. How else... you will be honored; your father, he will be overjoyed... and the elders, well they”...  
Every inflection of Peku's elated plans sent the thick vein in his neck into spasms.  
I was so hungry. How long had I slept?  
“Yum Caax cried, you know that? I have never seen him cry...”  
 _Just once. Just to taste him._  
“You know, I was mad that you had not told me... but I see why, and all that matters...”  
The throbbing of every word; I couldn't squelch my hunger. _I needed him._  
“Peku...”  
“Yes?”  
“Come to me.”  
He scooted on his buttocks to meet me, resting his arms on his kneecaps as he crossed his legs slowly beneath him.  
“Kiss me Peku, please”.  
“I really... you should talk to Enkil, we have time for this...”  
I didn't possess the patience for this game; I was hungry. I lunged at him. Tearing at his tunic, I gripped his long neck in my right hand and roughly brushing his matted raven hair aside with my left. Something in me wanted him to scream; to fight – but he just sat there blankly staring, too stunned to move. I draw back a moment, trying to ignore the sound of sweetened blood coursing through his supple veins... if he had cried, it might have saved him. I might have resisted. I felt my humanity leaving, the fragments still clinging to my innards... and with every drop I stole from his slender body, the further I felt these remnants wash away. I imagined I was the river snake, nipping at ankles under water, and I drank greedily until his lips puckered and his cheeks hollowed, withering like the discarded husks of maize mother once made. I slide my hand over his eyes; such a beautiful boy.  
…  
The buckling of my knees subsided, and I stood now on confident legs, renewed by my meal.  
Peku's idea wasn't a bad one, actually. I began to walk, leaving the lush forest on the outskirts where the elders had discarded by body. I was going to find my father.


End file.
